The present invention relates to a method of optically determining the total hemoglobin concentration as well as the oxygen saturation in non-hemolyzed whole blood, using at least two measurement wavelengths, and an apparatus for implementing the method of the invention.
Abbreviations used are as following:
Hb . . . hemoglobin PA1 tHb . . . total hemoglobin concentration (total of all active and inactive hemoglobin derivatives in the blood) PA1 O.sub.2sat . . . percent oxygen saturation PA1 O.sub.2 Hb . . . oxygenized Hb PA1 RHb . . . deoxygenized Hb PA1 COHb . . . carboxy Hb PA1 MetHb . . . methemoglobin PA1 SulfHb . . . sulfhemoglobin PA1 .sigma.O . . . absorption coefficient of O.sub.2 Hb PA1 .sigma.R . . . absorption coefficient of RHb PA1 .sigma.C . . . absorption coefficient of COHb PA1 .sigma.M . . . absorption coefficient of MetHb PA1 C.sub.O . . . concentration of O.sub.2 Hb PA1 C.sub.R . . . concentration of RHb PA1 C.sub.C . . . concentration of COHb